


I've Got You Under My Skin

by IHidMyFaceFromYouNoMore



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Cardassians Having Weird Mating Pheromones, Frottage, Julian You Disaster Of A Human, M/M, Scent Marking, Sexual Harassment, Stimming, Untimely Hard-Ons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:40:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24805600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IHidMyFaceFromYouNoMore/pseuds/IHidMyFaceFromYouNoMore
Summary: Julian has a Cardassian-sized problem. Garak offers his help. But it's not quite the help a friend offers another friend.
Relationships: Julian Bashir & Elim Garak, Julian Bashir/Elim Garak
Comments: 9
Kudos: 162





	I've Got You Under My Skin

**Author's Note:**

> Glossary in the end notes !

Garak sat down across from Julian at their table. “Why, doctor, if my eye-sight isn’t failing me, you seem a bit downtrodden today. Did your spice pudding get replicated wrong again?”

Julian defeatedly put aside the spoon he had plowed through his Idanian dessert for the past few minutes. “No, not this time.”

“But you are in a foul mood?”

“Yes, Garak.”

“And what has caused this?” Garak unfolded his napkin in order to place it in his collar.

Julian sighed like a balloon deflating. “It’s a — work problem. But I doubt it can be solved - so that’s why there’s a … storm-cloud hanging over me.”

“What sort of work problem?” Garak stabbed his casserole for a piece of _zabo_ meat.

“It’s highly unusual and very … _uncomfortable_.” Julian slumped over. “Ever since Tuesday we’ve had Cardassian soldiers coming in throngs to pass through the station. And it doesn’t seem like they’ll stop passing through here for the next few weeks. No, no, of course, they all have to sieve through _this_ station to go through the wormhole, not that I can begin to fathom why that is necessary, it’s not as if DS9 has anything to offer Cardassian military-men beside its convenient placement.” Julian realized he had gotten off on a slight tangent and pulled back. “So we’ve got a higher concentration of Cardassians around than usual. Which means there are more of them that go through the infirmary.”

Garak hummed a thoughtful note. “That does make sense, doesn’t it? A Cardassian wouldn’t pass up the chance for a free checkup, especially if they’re on leave or — have any ulterior motives.”

Julian’s finger shot out at Garak, pointing at him with an air of accusation. “So you know!” His eyes were full of exasperated fury.

Garak pointed at his own chest, a picture of innocence on his face. “Oh, know what? You shall have to be a little more specific, doctor.”

Julian narrowed those usually wide-open eyes of his. “Isn’t that the key-word here, Garak?”

“What is?”

“ _Doctor_. There’s something about that which attracts Cardassians, isn’t there? God help me if I could understand why, all I know is that I am being _relentlessly_ pursued by bachelor Cardassians while on duty and it is not only seriously affecting my work-performance, it is driving me up the wall!” 

Now this did make Garak smile. The image of the doctor attempting to leave Sick Bay with three or even five virile Cardassians blocking his exit — now that was worth Garak’s mirth. And Julian was not off track for all Garak knew; the medical field is highly fetishized by Cardassians. Almost as much as humans are.

Garak did genuinely hope that these run-ins with those Cardassian soldiers had no serious harassment in them, though. “How are they exactly interfering with you? Do tell.”

“Of course _you_ think this is all very funny, but you just try taking a blood sample from a patient who won’t stop asking you how you like getting fucked best. Just half an hour ago, I was asked by a Glinn to examine his _sotl_ with my mouth, because he assured me, quote, ‘that’s how it is done on Cardassia Prime’, unquote. And then there are the horrendous pet names, like ‘ _Federaji lect’_ , which I can only speculate is supposed to be a _cutesy_ diminutive —“ Julian spit the word ‘cutesy’ as if it was the worst word in the world he could ever be referred to as.  Garak warmed inside at the added image of these Cardassian soldiers calling Julian their ‘sweet little Federation fruit’, no doubt implied to be ripe for the picking by their imagined tone.

“And it doesn’t matter how many times I tell any of them ‘no, thank you’ or ‘please, step away from me’, they just — like, dart their tongues at me and I don’t always succeed in ducking away when they get too close.” Julian huffed. “I know Cardassians have reduced hearing, but there’s no way they can’t hear me rejecting them every time, several times!”

“Well, we do have a saying on Cardassia: Love makes you blind, but lust makes you deaf.” Garak said, matter-of-factly. Julian did not seem appeased by this, so Garak put his palms up as if to give up peacefully. 

“Now, don’t despair, dear Julian. If I am correct, there is an explanation for this, which I know you’re going to like, because it is a scientific explanation.”

Julian lowered his finger in order to fold his hands on the table. “… Go on.”

  
“It is a simple matter of biology. What we lack in hearing, we make up for in the olfactory department; Cardassians use their olfactory senses for much more than humans do, sometimes even for determining the availability of a potential mate. So there must be something in your odor which these, as you said, _bachelor,_ Cardassians are instinctively reacting to, something which both tells them that you’re single and a very fine choice.” Garak explained while Julian’s face kept getting more outwardly disgusted.

“However, I can see why you are frustrated by this behavior; even if you were in a relationship with someone, it would not very likely interfere with the plans of these Cardassians. We normally can’t distinguish the scent of another alien on an alien. But if you were marked by another Cardassian, then they would undoubtedly pick up on it and let you get on with your work. It would be as plain as advertising your commitment with a wedding-band on your finger. And a Cardassian respects mating boundaries as much as he respects his own mother.”

Julian squinted his eyes a bit more, skeptic. “Then I shall need to find some grade-A Cardassian musk and roll myself in it, is that what you’re saying?”

Garak sipped gingerly from his ginger tea. “Well, yes. I don’t know if it has ever been synthesized, however. You could always just roll yourself in a live Cardassian, that would be close to how one is usually marked by their partner.”

“So it’s just — sex? You have sex and then don’t shower and that repels other single Cardassians?”

“Hmmm — something like that.”

“Why are you saying ‘something like that’ as if it wouldn’t be the exact same thing?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I’m just deep in thought over how you’re going to find an eligible Cardassian to rub yourself against. I mean, it probably can’t be one from the visiting squadron, not that I’d think you’d do that after all the abuse they’ve subjected you to. So it’s probably best with an outsider Cardassian. If you can find one.” Garak took a long sip from his cup as he gazed a bit into the distance of the Replimat. 

Julian stared at him, trying to penetrate that thick layer of mystery. He frequently wondered how often Garak was flirting with him and how often Garak was doing whatever it was that he did as a ruse to annoy him. If Julian hadn’t been a little tired of being bombarded with sexual advances from men as of late, he would have been quicker to take advantage of an excuse to get Garak naked and covering him with his rounded, scaled body in the name of science. 

Julian leaned forward and softened his eyes. “I see. Garak, if you can help me with my predicament, I would like that.”

Garak’s pensive gaze returned to Julian with a smile. “Very well. I promise to be efficient, I shall avoid sandbathing myself beforehand. When do you want to meet at my quarters?”

“I get off at 1700 hours, so unless I’ve been eaten or bummed to death before that, I’d love to meet you around then.”

“What horrific images. If so, I will be glad to arrange your funeral-decorations.”

Both chuckled like idiots. _Yeah, he doesn’t mean anything by this_ , Julian thought. _It’s just gonna be innocent rubbing up against each other — between friends. Of course._

-

-

-

The moment Julian entered the room, Garak started instructing him in how they should carry on with their ‘science experiment’. First instruction: remove all clothing, as Garak stated so clinically. That was what it felt like, as both ended up standing across from each other, naked, the atmosphere embarrassingly sober, and Julian instantly knew that this couldn’t possibly end in sex after all. 

“Now, you do know where a Cardassian secretes his pheromones from?” Garak gestured to Julian. 

Julian wrung his brain. No, he hadn’t gotten that far in the databanks. “I could make an educated guess … but I’m guessing now is not the time nor place for that.” 

“That’s not a problem, I would just tell you, so you’ll know why I am going to do what I am going to do: there are these glands under the surface scales of our neck ridges. For them to be excreting their pheromone, they need to be stimulated. I will therefore do that before we can start the transfer.” 

Julian ‘ah’-ed. “Fair enough.” 

It did make sense. Those ridges were a well-document erogenous zone for the majority of Cardassians. So Garak began to run his fingers lightly across those muscles, starting at the joining by the outer collarbone, going up to right under the ear. His face was a pure expression of ‘standing by’: absolutely neutral, despite the fact that he was making his own scales raise up slowly. 

Julian of course had no clue what he ought to be doing. He felt a bit like he was watching Garak getting himself off, despite the fact that when he glanced to Garak’s _ajan_ , he was not everted in the least. Julian may not have read the bits about Cardassian hormones but he did read about the _ajan_ and the _sotl._ There was something in the databanks about how a Cardassian might train himself to delay everting despite arousal, which Garak might very well be doing for the sake of not embarrassing Julian. It wasn’t going to be sexual, after all. Despite what Julian had conjured in his mind during the day. 

“Are you doing alright?” Julian asked, regretting his stupid phrasing immediately.

“Yes, I should think so. Only I don’t usually go around deliberately marking humans with my musk, so I am just trying to do what comes naturally.” Garak smiled. 

Julian made a brief mumble of acknowledgement before averting his eyes awkwardly for a moment. He couldn’t not look at Garak. Not just because he was the only other person in the room and it was deafeningly silent in there, but because, well, Julian hadn’t seen Garak like this before. He had kinda moped around thinking he never would. And he hadn’t seen the naked Cardassian form outside of medical references until now, he couldn’t help but be fascinated. 

Garak was as invitingly soft around the edges as Julian had expected, but he hadn’t expected the unique patterning of scales that made turns and curved and was symmetrical and asymmetrical at the same time on his body. He wanted to see Garak’s back. Maybe he had something else going on back there, maybe some unique spines or another intriguing pattern. 

Julian was oddly drawn to the scales of Garak. Probably because they had such an interestingly tactile element — or so that is what Julian would say if anyone accused him of being a lizard-fetishist. Because when you say it like that, it doesn’t make it sound like you want to run your fingers all over the cool, glossy-smooth scales of a Cardassian arm, or the leg, or the thigh, and then feel around the _chufa_ of the forehead, then the one of the chest, then trace the ridges from the —

“You’re looking so intently at me, dear Julian, and yet at the same time you have such a distant look in your eye.”

Julian returned to reality with a stutter of an ‘uh’. “I was only thinking —“

“Yes?”

“… Could I feel your neck ridges? Maybe I could, uh — help.” God help him, if _that_ actually worked —

Garak removed his hands from his own neck, stepping closer. “Go ahead.”

Both chuckled nervously for a brief moment. _What the hell, we’re naked already, now is not the time to get nervous._ Julian reached out, starting by just smoothing a fingertip over the middle of a ridge. _Goodness, it really is just like the belly of a snake: cool, smooth to a point were you feel like it’s almost slippery…_ Julian breathed easy again. He went up, now with a few more fingers, touching just were the earlobe meets the scales. It tickled Garak, who squirmed as he was clearly holding back a little laugh.

“Sorry!” Julian grinned.

“No, no, your fingers are just warmer than I remembered.” Garak excused, letting Julian return to his exploration. _Well, that at least let up the atmosphere a bit._

Down Julian went, touching Garak’s collarbone before going back up again. He was just lightly strumming his fingertips to the fleshy scales, which, upon close-up examination, Julian could now see the small differences from their usual state: they did seem to have raised up a little, even changed a tone to a slightly darker, bluish hue. Not a lot, but a little. 

“You can use more pressure if you like.” Garak took Julian out of dreamland again, causing him to add his second hand so that Julian now could feel both sides of Garak’s neck simultaneously. 

He did as Garak had told him, increasing the pressure. He began wondering what Garak would think of a massage. A Cardassian massage, now what would that be like? 

Garak suddenly cleared his throat quietly and Julian removed his hands in surprise. “I think we can move on to the essential part of the evening now.”

“Okay.” 

“I will lay my neck to yours to begin with, therefore marking you by rubbing against you. It will probably take a few minutes.” 

“Okay. Good. Good.” Julian nodded, bracing himself.

Garak simply stepped forward to do as he had said, lowering a little to bring Julian into contact with his entire throat. 

If Garak hadn’t had his hands passively at his sides, it would’ve been a hug, almost. Except that hugs don’t happen naked, usually. And Julian had no idea what to do with his own hands. For now, he plastered them to the tops of his own thighs, feeling a little clammy. Garak’s scales felt a bit rough on Julian’s goosey skin, and it didn’t lessen that once Garak started moving up to touch collarbones, their ears brushed together in the moment, while those rough scales rubbed at Julian in an _odd_ way. Garak angled himself to cover the entire curve of Julian’s throat, really applying himself, literally. 

_Oh, no, that feels good. Oh. No._

Why was Julian’s hand moving up to grip Garak’s shoulder? No-one knew in the moment, but it happened and Garak pulled back to examine Julian’s expression. This turned into prolonged eye-contact in devastating silence. Julian made it worse by putting his other hand on Garak’s other shoulder because he didn’t know what else to do. _Oh. No._ He wanted to laugh nervously, to open his stupid, big mouth and say something sensible or just break eye-contact, at least. But Julian’s clammy hands held onto Garak’s bumpy shoulders, wanting to rub them too for the stimming effect they had on him. 

“Should I stop?” Garak managed to muster up. He looked as taken aback as Julian.

“No. No.” This, Julian could say. Not ‘I want more’ or ‘Garak, please let me ride you or something’ or ‘I think it’s getting a bit late, maybe I should —’, no. 

Then Garak looked down. Just a glance by instinct, but then he blinked and looked down with dew-fresh eyes and stared for a good few seconds. His brow-bone ridges raised. “Is that a — _normal_ reaction?”

Julian couldn’t even swallow. He made a drawn out closed-mouthed hum that could have meant anything either way. _Panic. Immovable. Oh. No._

“Julian, are you unwell?” Garak asked and got no response. He ever-so-gently slid Julian’s stiff hands into his and held them gently. “Let’s go sit down.” He tugged at those hands to lead Julian to the bed in the adjacent room. Julian sat down and Garak tried soothingly stroking his shoulders and back to get him to say something, to bring him out of his trance. 

Of course Julian was mortified. He was hard when he wasn’t supposed to be, and he was naked, and he was with Garak, whom he, of all the people on the station, did not want to see himself in this kind of state. Eventually, Julian managed to cover his face in his hands just because looking at Garak was too much to bear. 

Julian said something but his lips were partially obstructed by his fingers and it came out as more of a low groan. Garak waited a beat, then let go of Julian’s shoulder in order to get up from the bed. Julian didn’t see what he was doing, but something was draped over his shoulders and when he dropped his hands he knew it to be true; Garak had placed one of his robes lightly over him, and was currently walking to his closet again for another one for himself. 

“If you wish to talk about it, I wouldn’t mind listening, but if not then that’s perfectly acceptable. Only tell me if you wish to go.” Garak tied the knot in front of his midnight blue wrap as he finished his sentence.

Because it had taken Julian out of his state, his mouth worked again. “Thank you.” He began quietly. “I don’t — I don’t want to leave. At least not without something to explain myself with, I —“ Julian could look him in the eyes again. “Well, what do you want me to say?”

Garak’s expression almost approached offense. “What do you mean?”

“You entreat me to come over for _this_ , and we’re both surprised that I get aroused? What the hell are we doing, Garak?” 

Garak gestured to nothing in particular. “I’m as puzzled as you are, dear.” 

Garak sat down on the bed once more. They were uncomfortably silent for a little while, the only noise being the ambient hum of the station surrounding them. 

“I was under the impression that you enjoyed our vague back-and-forths, is all.” Garak said, nonchalant as ever. 

Julian turned to him to gesture. “Well, yes! But — to a degree, Garak.” He said. Julian was still nervous, but not so much to stop him from saying what he was about to say. “I was hoping, at lunch, that you were asking me to be intimate with you. I thought it was your way of being direct while still being indirect, the way you asked me.”

Garak straightened his spine a bit and smiled. “But, dear, I did — you were right in thinking that. But your reaction just now had me feeling doubt. Doubt about _your_ intentions.”

Julian looked at Garak as if he had just been told someone had played a weird prank on him. “So — we just — completely misunderstood each other…?”

Garak nodded. And Julian nodded. And they came to a standstill for a few seconds. They then exchanged looks, Julian looking at Garak until Garak looked at him and then looking away when the tension became too high. 

Julian couldn’t take it. _Enough._ He reached around Garak next to him, resting his hand on his shoulder, his eyes trying to not be awkward as he looked at him with determination. _We can do this. I can do this._

Julian didn’t know where he was going with his half-hug, but luckily Garak expanded upon the motion by leaning in closer, placing his own hand on Julian’s shoulder to mirror him. He gave him a reassuring smile and Julian breathed. Eventually, they were too close and met in a kiss, and it wasn’t as awkward or stiff as Julian had feared. It wasn’t long before they slotted into each other, naturally, softly, sweet and kind. 

The bed was firm, as Cardassian mattresses are, but the blankets on top were supple as Julian eventually reclined into them with Garak over him. Garak was finding his place between Julian’s legs, he needn’t coax them apart to lie in their space as Julian invited it. He encouraged everything Garak was doing, telling him with his hands where to touch, to explore and kiss. The robe Julian was loosely wearing was no longer really on his body, more sagging off of him and opening completely to his entire naked front. He went to work on Garak’s robe which only took a bit of fiddling with his belt to open up, ready to be slid off his back. 

In Julian’s quest to remove the robe, his hands found their way down to Garak’s thighs — the top of them, the crevice in between — the _ajan_. Julian wasn’t sure if he should, if touching was in tonight’s plans. But he knew he had to ask.

“Are you — suppressing your urge to evert right now?”

Garak looked a little unsure of himself. “Somewhat, yes.”

“You don’t have to — I wouldn’t mind …” Julian couldn’t find the words, but Garak caught his meaning without further ado, kissing him.

“Go ahead.” He took Julian by his hand, though he barely touched him because Julian’s fingers floated upward, finding the folds of Garak without any help. Julian looked there while he felt around the lips, fingers coating in lubricant that he could tell had a very Garak-y scent from there. He slipped in a bit, exploring the opening and then the _sotl_ poked its head out to greet him, slowly expanding to exit into Julian’s hand which eagerly stroked it. 

Julian had never experienced anything like it and felt a rush of arousal straining at his already very hardened cock that was mere centimeters from touching Garak’s. 

“Oh, Garak —“ He said with no clear end goal in mind for the sentence. 

“Tell me what you’d like to do.” 

“Won’t you — rub against me? Sort of like we planned.” Julian grinned.

“Rub — as in… ?”

“I want you — I want you to press down on me and press me into the mattress while you rub my cock with yours —“

“Oh — _yes_ —“ Garak twitched in Julian’s hand at the thought. 

So he positioned himself to lay cock to _sotl_ on top of Julian, not holding back his weight as he lowered himself down properly onto Julian. Julian laid his feet behind Garak’s back, toes needing something to do as they tensed and untensed under Garak’s ministrations. His hands needed something to do as well, so they went back to what brought them here which was caressing Garak’s neck ridges, earning him a moan from the owner.

At first, Garak sloppily grinded into Julian while slipping around all over from the excessive oil of his _ajan_. But he soon realized it wasn’t the best he could give Julian, so he managed to hold him and Julian in one hand, controlling them so that they weren’t slipping about. Julian’s moans changed in tone, he almost entirely stopped rubbing Garak down because of it. His own hips moved as much as they could, which wasn’t much but not nothing, to meet Garak halfway. 

“Don’t — don’t stop, Garak —“ Julian whimpered, “I need you to keep on — keep going, keep — _ah_ —“ 

“Yes, yes — yes — _ah,_ my dear, I want you —“ Garak lost his train of thought when he came unexpected between their torsos from one thrust to the next. But he wasn’t stopping just because of that, he needed to take Julian there too. And he had promised not to stop. 

  
Julian was reaching his peak, taking in breaths he couldn’t exhale yet, spasming right before it happened, Julian came in a mess of moans and forceful exhales. Garak kept going for an inordinate amount of time, grinding the very last out of Julian before he was playfully told to stop. 

Out of breath, Julian asked: “Did you say that the marking is lost after just a shower?”

“Yes, at least after a human shower, the sonic one especially.”

“Then we shall have to do this again every once in a while until the Cardassian troops are over the hills.”

_I hope they never leave. Maybe Cardassia will re-occupy Bajor and they’ll stick around the station — wait, what the fuck am I thinking, that’s not what I want at all —_

Julian’s brain came down from its high and he drew Garak down onto him, letting him relax his entire being onto his sweat-slicked body. With this kind of contact his cock already wanted more, but Julian was content with having Garak draped over him like a luxurious blanket for now. 

-

-

-

There was a part of Julian that had thought that maybe Garak had been pulling his leg. What if there was no such thing as Cardassian scent-marking? Could very well be one of Garak’s secret plans to bed Julian in the unlikely event that half of the Cardassian military came to visit and Julian just so happened to apparently smell really, really good to those lizards. As if he could orchestrate all that. And yet Julian wasn’t without his skepticism. Garak could have surreptitiously sprayed him with a pheromone without his knowledge or something like that. The skepticism grew.

But come morning and Julian’s shift, he made his way to the infirmary when he was about to pass a group of Cardassian officers who, as soon as they had darted their tongues at him, instantly changed their leering expressions to looking like a pack of kicked dogs. They went in a bit of a curve around Julian’s path. And apparently the rumor had spread within the hour, because Julian didn’t have another Cardassian feigning injury anywhere near his infirmary for the rest of the day. 

He promised himself he’d reward Garak next time he saw him. 

**Author's Note:**

> Glossary (as usual, taken from tinsnip's Xenobiology document and the stexpanded.wikia.com site’s Cardăsda section. Which btw I am not fully sure if it is the same as Kardasi, it might not be, but I’ll allow it): 
> 
> ‘Lect’ translates to ‘orange’ (not specified if they mean orange the fruit or the color. I obviously chose the fruit-way)
> 
> ‘Zabo’ is a meat from some kind of Cardassian bovine
> 
> ‘Sotl’ is one of the fandom-accepted words for the Cardassian phallus
> 
> ‘Ajan’ is the genital slit from which the sotl emerges
> 
> ‘Chufa’ is that spoon-shaped thing on Cardassian foreheads


End file.
